The New School of Montpelier

Year Founded: 2005
Employee-Owned Since: 2015 (Worker Co-op)
Headquarters: Montpelier, VT
Employees: 70+
Line of Business: Education
Website: www.nsmvt.org

Elias Gardner, now a co-owner of the New School of Montpelier, says he was not looking forward to becoming the sole owner of the school when his mother, the founder and previous owner, was ready to retire. To avoid that scenario, Gardner attending a couple of our annual VEOC conferences and started working with the school’s employees to form a finance committee, start working out a business plan, and prepare for purchasing the school as a worker co-op.

At first, Gardner said the group was “a bunch of teachers and one-on-one care providers who did not know much, if anything, about running a business.” Around 15 months later, and with crucial help from the Vermont Small Business Development Center, the team had crafted a compelling business plan that ultimately helped them secure a loan to purchase the school.

The New School of Montpelier converted to a worker-owned cooperative in 2015, with loans from the Cooperative Fund of New England and the Vermont Employee Ownership Center.